There is a foliar disease ravaging a part of my yard. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It seems very virulent whatever it is. Everything was fine on Saturday and now whole branches seem to be wilting away. Does anyone know what this is and how to treat it? It seems like a fungus because I see what looks to be sporulation on infected tissues. It is infecting kaki, hybrids, American persimmon, and figs. EDIT: Trees that have more Japanese beetle damage seem to be showing more symptoms. Perhaps the beetle damage is opening the trees up to infection.
Andrew, sorry you’re having these issues. Some of the symptoms strongly resemble “web blight” aka rhizoctonia aerial blight. I’ve seen similar lesions on figs. The centers often fall out of the affected lesions—and, in bad cases, infected leaves will shrivel and adhere to other leaves and stems. R. solani is an opportunist and will infect a lot of different species. Can infect fruit, too.
Perhaps there are different pathogens involved as Richard suggests or it could all be the same thing. Whatever it is, I’ve never seen anything like it until this year.
Hmmmm. Web blight can indeed do serious damage to beans. Has the weather been pretty wet lately? Seems I see it mostly in damp weather. Lot of times I see it first on low foliage that’s near the grass: grass seems to often harbor it.
But it could indeed be a complex of problems. And you’re likely right about the Japanese beetles stressing them and making them more susceptible to whatever this is. The beetles have been a little worse than usual here this year.
Yes! It rained quite a bit the past couple weeks. It actually all appeared after a big storm. The trees that are affected are in a sheltered part of the yard that probably doesn’t get as much air movement as the other parts. Also, lower branches are more affected. They’ve all been sprayed today and I gave those beetles some poison too. We’ll see how the trees fare. Hopefully some aren’t completely lost.
Quite possibly! However, fig rust presents a bit differently from what I’ve seen. It also doesn’t develop practically overnight or spreads so rapidly like this malady. Only the figs next to the infected persimmons showed these symptoms. I’m not ruling anything out though.
No trial, Tony. Everything that looks infected, anything nearby, and grass underneath was sprayed. I am plucking off all damaged leaves tomorrow. This is too scary!
They didn’t get hit by spray? Having the same burnt holes on completely different plants (pawpaw and persimmon) would make me wonder. Paraquat for example can do that.
That does seem suspicious doesn’t it? However, I don’t spray such things in my yard, and there is plenty of healthy vegetation between my affected trees and the neighbors including other persimmons and pawpaws. It’s literally a straight row of 3 main trees (nonastringent kaki) close to the east side of house and the little potted ones underneath or in between them that are affected. The main trees affected are on the shorter side at 8-10 feet tall and more damage is closer to the ground than at the tops.
I wonder if your persimmons are facing verticillium wilt. I haven’t read/looked at @JeremiahT 's link.
In the meantime, I’ve texted one of the dendrologist’s for the International Oak Society whom also cares for all the trees in a large city’s Parks and Recreation Department. I hope to hear from him soon. Those crunchy leaves look exactly like verticillium wilt. I’ve experienced it on Apricot and Shantung maple and it was proximity-based. They were 40’ apart is my guess… from what I remember.
Have you cut the stems to see what they look like inside? Stems with Vert. Wilt have olive green discoloration behind the bark.
I think you have Septoria Leaf Spot going on that is non-connected to the persimmons. We’ll see what happens, what the answer(s) is/are.
…Along with symptoms being shown of mineral deficiencies.
They’re struggling so insects especially are going to take over your place. Pretty soon you won’t know what caused what. Right now I’d say you have bacterial issues on leaves and your persimmons have Vert. Wilt.
This is a systematically approach. Start with leaves, pluck/remove. Then branches and systematically cut them while sterilizing between cuts 'till you get to healthy looking wood again. And then tar it up real good & see what happens.
Continue the Immunox…
This is the approach I would consume my time with.
Good Morning!
I noticed these yellow and black blotches on about 20% of my chocolate persimmon leaves. The fruit looks ok at the moment. We have had a very hot and dry weather for the last few weeks.
Any idea whether this is a disease or a mineral deficiency? I do not see it on the other trees at the moment.
